Inshore Fisheries Management Improvement Programme: Call for evidence
Overview
This call for evidence seeks input from people with expert knowledge of inshore marine fisheries in Scotland (e.g. academics, fishers, national and regional fisheries representatives, eNGOs, seafood processors, coastal communities). We anticipate input to range from papers and data to relaying of personal experience and expert opinion to inform development of this policy.
The Scottish Government’s Marine Directorate has an Inshore Fisheries Management Improvement (IFMI) Programme that presents an opportunity to develop a new framework for agile management of our inshore sea fisheries.
Our vision is that this framework will enable us to tailor a wider range of fisheries management tools to the changing needs of our marine environment and sea fishers, based on the best available scientific data.
Our Fisheries Management Strategy outlines our commitment to working with stakeholders, and this framework offers an opportunity to strengthen existing arrangements.
The IFMI programme will consider a structure that enables a greater focus on strategic decision making both regionally and nationally. It will help us to manage fishing activity within our inshore marine space, and consider how responsibility for management and delivery can be shared whilst respecting the ultimate accountability of Scottish Ministers to the Scottish Parliament and the general public.
All of the information required to respond to this call for evidence can be found here on Citizen Space. The same information can be found on the Scottish Government website.
Useful information about responding to this call for evidence
As you complete your response, each page will provide the option to 'Save and come back later' at the bottom. This means you can save your progress and return to the Call for Evidence at any time before it closes. If you don't use this feature and leave the Call for Evidence midway through, your response will be lost.
Once you have submitted your response, you can enter your email address to get a pdf copy of your answers sent to you.
On the 'About You' page at the end of this consultation, organisations will have the opportunity to tell us more about their work and/or how their response was informed.
After the Call for Evidence has closed there will be a few months delay before any responses are published. This is because we must check any responses to be published abide by our Terms of Use.
A analysis report will usually be published some months after the Call for Evidence has closed. This report will summarise the findings based on all responses submitted. It will be published on the Scottish Government website and you may be notified about it if you choose to share your email address with us. You can also join our mailing list where we regularly list newly published analysis reports (as well as new consultations and Calls for Evidence).
Why your views matter
Following this call for evidence, Scottish Ministers have committed to consulting on the IFMI framework in late 2025. Through this call for evidence your experience of Scotland’s inshore fisheries will inform the development of the IFMI policy proposal ahead of this consultation.
Wherever possible, please submit evidence to support your answer.
This Call for Evidence is open for a 10 week period.
The responses received will be instrumental in enabling us to develop a framework more fully based on the received evidence after it closes. We will engage with stakeholders to refine the proposal and consider implementation and monitoring before bringing it to public consultation in late 2025 to receive views on a final proposal. Following consideration of consultation responses, we expect to begin implementation in late 2026.
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- Marine and Fisheries
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